A Midsemester Night's Dream
by PrincessTadashi
Summary: Fred and Ezra Bridger have crushes on their respective best friends, Tadashi and Hiro, but have been too scared to move things forward. When Honey Lemon brings a flower that's pollen causes instant infatuation into the lab, though, both brothers get a whiff of it, and Fred and Ezra suddenly get what they want. But can they really enjoy it if none of it is real? (Fredashi, Hezra)


Tadashi walked into Honey Lemon's office in search of Fred. Having been best friends since high school, Tadashi knew that the fanboy had a habit of wandering into places he wasn't supposed to be, especially when he got bored while Tadashi got wrapped up in working on a project. Whenever Fred came to visit the Nerd Lab, Tadashi had to keep an eye on him to keep him out of the kind of trouble that he seemed to be a magnet for. Tadashi had really meant to be paying more attention to Fred this time, but he'd been working on a particularly delicate piece of hardware as an upgrade for Baymax and when he'd finally looked up from his project, Fred had disappeared.

Tadashi's best hope was that maybe the fanboy had gone to visit one of their other friends in the lab, so he was checking all of their offices one by one. Unfortunately Fred hadn't shown up in any of them so far, and Tadashi was beginning to feel deeply concerned about the type of trouble that the loveable but accident prone nerd could have gotten into. He was just about to leave Honey Lemon's office and go check with GoGo when suddenly a row of luminescent purple flowers sitting in a seed tray on the counter grabs and holds his attention.

What was Honey Lemon doing growing flowers in her office? Usually her work focused on chemistry, but maybe she was trying to branch out into botany? Without even thinking about the consequences, Tadashi crosses over to investigate-it almost felt like there was a magnet pulling him towards them, keeping him from leaving before he took a closer look at them. Even though he wasn't usually that interested in flowers (he had nothing against them, he just didn't spend a lot of time thinking about them), for some reason he couldn't look away from these ones, and he suddenly had the strong urge to see what they smelled like. Even from a distance, he had some inkling of their heady perfume, but he leans in closer to actually sniff them-

"Tadashi! There you are!" Fred walks into Honey Lemon's office, glad to have finally found his best friend-and, yes, admittedly, crush. He'd had a major thing for Tadashi almost since they'd met in high school, and instead of mellowing out over the years, the attraction had only grown. Still, he did his best to respect Tadashi's boundaries-in spite of how close they were, he'd never had the courage to ask his best friend about his romantic and sexual orientation to find out if he was even an option for him, partly because he wasn't sure how to bring it up without making things awkward and partly because he was terrified of finding out that there wasn't a possibility of Tadashi ever being more than just his friend. So pining away in silence it was.

Still, in spite of the fact that he was completely head over heels for his best friend, that didn't mean he was going to let that keep him from spending as much time as possible with him. Even if he didn't know if he could ever be with him in that way, hanging out and just enjoying each other's company was amazing and so he did his best to make the most of every moment that he had with him. That was one of the reasons that Fred spent so much time here at SFIT instead of at his own university, SF State-he'd much rather do his homework with Tadashi by his side in a lab meant for STEM geniuses than sit all alone in some stuffy library at the school where he actually took his classes.

All the same, as much as he loved spending time with Tadashi and knew Tadashi loved spending time with him, sometimes his best friend could get a little-well, lost in his work, leaving Fred to his own devices until he finally emerged from the vast world inside that genius brain of his. Fred knew that Tadashi didn't really like him to wander off on his own, and he tried not to, but sometimes he just got so _bored_ just sitting there while Tadashi mumbled about lithium ion batteries and actuators (whatever those were….)

This afternoon had been one of those times, and Fred, after an hour of patiently waiting, had decided to make himself useful by going to get coffee, knowing how much Tadashi usually needed a good dose of caffeine after an inventing session. He'd figured he couldn't get himself into too much trouble going to get coffee, but it turned out that he'd been wrong. By the time he returned to the office, Tadashi had apparently noticed his absence and gone to find him. Sighing and hoping that he wasn't in too much trouble, Fred leaves the coffee on the desk and goes to search for him. He'd tried texting Tadashi, but didn't receive a reply-the absentminded inventor must have forgotten to put his phone on charge again and let it die, meaning that Fred was going to have to do this the old fashioned way.

He was just starting to get a little bit worried by how long it was taking to locate Tadashi when he finally spots him standing in their friend Honey Lemon's office. Fred lets out a sigh of relief-Tadashi didn't look upset, if anything he seemed deeply interested in some purple flowers sitting on the desk-and so, hoping that he wasn't in trouble for wandering off again, he calls out his best friend's name to get his attention.

Tadashi turns at the sound of his name, his expression oddly blank for a moment, but then a happy grin crosses his face and he answers, "Freddy! There you are!"

_Freddy?_ Fred wonders. That was weird-it was a nickname Tadashi usually only used if he thought that Fred was hurt or in trouble. Maybe he'd started worrying about him because he'd disappeared from the office and thought he'd gotten lost or something? Yeah, that was probably it.

"Hey, sorry if I scared you!" Fred answers out loud. "I just went to get you coffee-I didn't want to disturb you so I didn't say anything."

"You did that for me? That is so sweet of you!" Tadashi's voice was perhaps a couple shades too chipper for his usual tone as he makes his way over to him, but Fred rationalizes it as inventor's mania-sometimes Tadashi could get like this when a project was going well and his mood was elevated from his success.

What Fred couldn't fully rationalize was when the other man suddenly wraps his arms around his waist and, after a moment of beaming at him, actually kisses his cheek.

"U-Uh, Dashi?" Fred stammers out, feeling like his skin was burning where Tadashi's lips had brushed it. "A-Are you okay?"

"Of course!" Tadashi answers, grinning at him again before startling Fred even more by starting to nuzzle up against his chest. "You're here, how could I not be?"

Poor Fred was almost on the verge of a heart attack-what was going on here? Why was Tadashi suddenly acting so- so- The only term that came to mind was enamored with him, but that couldn't be right! It wasn't like in the short space of time that he'd been gone Tadashi could have suddenly had a gay revelation that he actually liked him as more than a friend-could he?

Fred was just trying to figure out how exactly to try to voice his thoughts without making things super awkward if he was wrong when suddenly he hears a familiar voice saying, "What is going on in here?"

Startled, Fred turns (as best he can with Tadashi clinging to him like an over-eager koala bear) to find Hiro and Honey Lemon standing in the doorway to the office.

"I- Um- This isn't what it looks like!" Fred stammers out. The truth was he had no idea what the hell this actually was, but he was trying to downplay the situation to keep his best friend's little brother for murdering him in cold blood if he thought that he was trying to take advantage of his elder sibling.

Hiro, for his part, seemed to be mildly amused by the whole situation if his smirk on his face was any sign. Honey Lemon, though, looked horrified.

"What are you two doing in my office?" she cries.

"Um, I'm sorry?" Fred answers, surprised by her reaction-usually she had a total open door policy in her office and only kept others out if she was in the middle of a dangerous experiment. "I was just looking for Tadashi and saw him in here-"

"And I was looking for Freddy, and he found me!" Tadashi adds, beaming up at Fred, who couldn't help but notice something didn't seem quite right about his eyes, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it. They almost seemed to be-well, _glowing_.

"Dashi, please tell me that you didn't go near those flowers!" Honey Lemon says, sounding more and more horrified by the minute.

"The glowy purple ones? Yeah, I did," Tadashi answers. "They smelled really pretty!."

"Oh, this is bad…" Honey Lemon whispers, eyes wide and a hand nervously clutching in her long blond hair. "This is very, very bad!"

"What's the problem?" Hiro asks, leaving off smirking at his extremely smitten-looking older brother to look up at her, seeming to realize the gravity of the situation. "Are those flowers dangerous or something?"

"They're Cupid's Hearts!" Honey Lemon cries. Seeing no sign of recognition from the others, she continues, "The extremely rare plant? They hardly ever grow in the wild, and the ones grown in labs are kept in highly controlled environments! I was only given permission to have these because I volunteered to help a friend in the biology department with their project on the possibility of using these flowers in helping with the mating of endangered species! If anyone found out that I let a human get affected by them-! I only left the lab for two seconds to get the glass case I was going to secure them in!"

"Honey, what exactly do these flowers do?" Fred asks, starting to feel incredibly worried about the type of effect they might be having on his best friend.

"Anyone affected by them becomes incredibly infatuated with the next person they lay eyes on!"

"...Wait, seriously?"

"Yes! That's why we wanted to see if they could help with stubborn mating cases-they were never supposed to be used on humans!" Honey Lemon answers, looking on the verge of having a meltdown.

"And is it-permanent?" Fred asks carefully, not sure if he wanted a positive or negative answer to that question. On the one hand, the idea of having Tadashi treating him like this all the time was did sound extremely tempting-after all, who wouldn't want their crush to suddenly be returning their affections after years of silently dreaming about something just like this? But the other, more rational side of him, pointed out that this type of affection would never be truly satisfying-deep down he'd always know that it wasn't real. And besides, this wasn't exactly Tadashi either. This extremely clingy, giggly Tadashi wasn't the man he'd fallen so hard for-the real Tadashi would never act like this, and he definitely didn't want his best friend stuck like this for the rest of his life.

"According to everything that I've read, the effects eventually wear off on their own-it varies on how long it takes, but as long as there isn't repeated exposure, hopefully not more that a couple hours?" Honey Lemon tells him, obviously trying to sound positive."

"Maybe I should take Tadashi home until this wears off," Hiro says with a small frown. "I'm not sure I like the idea of him being in the lab like this."

"Agreed," Fred says-as tempting as it was to just enjoy this while he could, he knew that Tadashi would probably be a lot safer at home. Besides, maybe being away from him would help the effect of the flowers wear off quicker, and he would do anything to help his best friend, even if it meant a bit of sacrifice on his own part.

Unfortunately, Tadashi did not seem to share the others' sentiments.

"No!" He wraps his arms tighter around Fred as Hiro approaches him. "You can't make me go! I want to stay with Freddy!"

"Tadashi, come on!" Hiro frowns up at him. "You're acting like a little kid! This isn't you!"

Tadashi's only response is to back away, dragging a very confused Fred with him, and pressing a rather possessive kiss onto the fanboy's cheek.

"Fine!" Hiro throws his hands up into the air in frustration. "See if I care! But it's not my fault if you have to deal with the fact that you were acting like an idiot when you finally come to your senses!"

"Fred, are you okay with this?" Honey Lemon asks, looking concerned. "I know this is probably super awkward for you-"

"Nope, I'm fine!" Fred answers quickly-perhaps a little too quickly he realizes when he sees Hiro's eyes narrowing at him.

"I still don't get how the hell stupid flowers could be doing this," the younger teen says, stepping closer to the flowers and, before Honey Lemon could stop him, sniffing them with a slightly disgusted look on his face. "It's not like they're magic or anythi-"

"HIRO!" Within seconds Honey Lemon races across the office and claps her hands over his eyes.

"What the hell? What are you doing?" Hiro protests.

"What am I doing? Hiro, what did you think you were doing?!" Honey Lemon shrieks, looking like she was only one step away from a breakdown. "Inhaling the pollen is how the flower gets into your system!"

"...Fuck."

It was a testament to just how strongly the flowers were affecting Tadashi that he didn't say anything about Hiro dropping the f-bomb right in front of him.

As it was, Honey Lemon, pulling Hiro far away from the flowers while still keeping her hands over his eyes, seemed to be doing her best to just hold it together as she slowly says, "Okay. The flower is only supposed to affect you if you actually look at someone else, right? So as long as you keep your eyes closed for the next few hours until the pollen should be out of your system, you should be okay, okay?"

"Easier said than done…" Hiro mumbles, and Fred couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him because underneath his snarky tone he could detect a hint of fear-and who could blame him when he'd essentially become one of Puck's victims in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_?

"Look, we'll find a blindfold for you or something!" Honey Lemon tells him. "Just-keep your eyes closed for two seconds while I put the glass on top of the flowers, okay? I don't want anyone else getting infected!"

"Fine," Hiro sighs, keeping his eyes tightly shut as Honey Lemon slowly removes her hands before darting over to set the glass case she'd set down outside of the office on top of the flowers, holding her breath as she does so.

"Finally." The blond woman lets outs a sigh of relief once the case has been firmly secured to the desks, the flowers neutralized as long as they stayed behind their protective covering. "Now, all we need to do is find a blindfold for Hiro and we should be just fine-"

She'd spoken too soon because just then Hiro's best friend in the lab, Ezra Bridger, pokes his head into the office, asking innocently, "Hey guys, what's going on?" Having no idea the trouble he was about to cause, he didn't even realize why both Fred and Honey Lemon gasped in horrified unison when Hiro instinctively turns towards him, opening his eyes and-

Ezra still couldn't believe sometimes that his best friend was Hiro Hamada-_the_ Hiro Hamada! Before actually meeting him, Ezra had seen the teen genius many times on the news in stories featuring both of the Hamada brothers' revolutionary work in the field of robotics. Hiro was part of the reason that Eza had decided that he wanted to go to SFIT when he graduated from high school, although he'd never dreamed he would actually meet him, let alone become friends with him. Even though they were right about the same age, Hiro had started at SFIT when he was fourteen, so Ezra was a good two years behind him in classes and there wasn't exactly a chance of the two of them randomly running into each other.

But then he'd gone on his first campus tour which just so happened to be led not just by Tadashi Hamada, who would have been impressive enough, but Hiro! It soon became obvious that Hiro was only there because Tadashi had dragged him along as he kept lagging behind the rest of the group and only giving curt, one-word answers to anyone who actually directed any questions towards him. Almost everyone else had quickly given up on trying to get any socializing out of him and just focused their attention on Tadashi. Ezra, though, hadn't been able to let such an amazing opportunity slip by and so, summoning up his courage during the break for lunch, he'd approached the robotics prodigy at his solitary table and asked if he could join him.

At first Hiro had treated him with what could politely be called a general lack of interest, but eventually Ezra mentioning that he could only imagine what it must be like giving a campus tour with a sibling must be like when he knew how crazy his elder sister, Sabine, drove him when they were just sharing a house had struck a chord with Hiro. It had quickly turned into a mutual commiseration session, both of them knowing what it was like to be the "baby" of the family, which had then turned into a discussion of the ups and downs of growing up in an adopted family (Hiro and Tadashi having been raised by their Aunt, Ezra and his adopted sister Sabine by their adopted parents Hera and Kanan Jarrus, as well as their adopted Uncles Zeb and Alex Kallus-Orrelios.) By the time the lunch break was over, the friendship had been solidly cemented, and the two had been almost inseparable since.

Not that friendship was the only thing on Ezra's mind lately. He hadn't expected things to progress any further than they had-he was perfectly fine with what he had with Hiro. But sometimes lately he'd found himself wondering what it might be like to take things to the next step-if his and Hiro's casual hangouts were dates instead, what it might be like to hold Hiro's hand as they walked across campus together, or even to kiss him. Of course Ezra was nowhere near ready to actually voice these thoughts to Hiro-he was still trying to process them himself (he knew that he was solidly bi, but this was his first time having a serious crush on a guy-or on anyone, for that matter.)

So that's why, when he walked into Honey Lemon's office to find out what his friends were up to and he suddenly found himself with Hiro pressed up against him in a way that was most definitely _not_ the platonic cuddling that they sometimes did, his mind went a little bit haywire.

"Uh, H-Hiro? W-What are you doing?" he barely manages to stammer out.

"Well hello to you too," Hiro purrs, his eyes almost seeming to be glowing as he looks up at him, and Ezra finds himself swallowing very hard as he tries to keep himself from reading too much into this.

"I-Is everything okay?" Ezra asks, taking a step backwards. Hiro quickly closed the gap between them again.

"Much, much more than okay." Hiro had him almost backed up against the wall now, and he didn't seem to have any intention of stopping.

"Fred!" Honey Lemon cries, sounding oddly desperate. "Do something!"

"I'm kind of tied up at the moment!" Fred answers, gesturing to Tadashi, who was completely wrapped around him (_Wait, when had that happened?_ Ezra had to wonder.)

"Ezra, I'm sorry, Hiro inhaled the pollen of a flower that makes people infatuated with the first person they see after they're exposed to it!" Honey Lemon cries apologetically, looking like she very much wanted to help him but didn't know how to intervene.

"Wait, he did _what_?" Ezra looks down at Hiro in disbelief. That might explain the odd behavior, but was that even possible for a flower to do something like this?

"Who cares?" Hiro scoffs before pouting adorably up at him. "Does it really matter if it took a flower to make me see clearly? Haven't you wanted this for a long time? I've seen those looks you give me in the library when you think I'm not looking..."

Hiro cuddles up against him before his hands start making their way below the other teen's waist, making Ezra gasp and do his best best to push him away.

"H-Hiro, n-no! This isn't right-this isn't you!" Ezra cries. "Y-You would never be acting like this on your own!"

His cheeks were still burning from what Hiro had said about the library-apparently he hadn't been as subtle as he'd thought he'd been-but all the same he couldn't let hormones cloud his judgement. As much as he sometimes fantasized late at night about a moment very much like this, he knew that it wasn't real, and there was no way he could take advantage of Hiro when he was under the influence of some weird flower.

"Ez, come on, don't be shy," Hiro purrs, starting to come after him again in full seduction mode. "There's an empty office with our name on it…"

"All right, that's enough out of you!" Honey Lemon finally has to intervene, grabbing Hiro by the arms and dragging him back.

"No! Let me go!" Hiro protests, thrashing in her arms and trying to break free.

"Hiro!" Ezra cries. "Stop it! This isn't you!"

Hiro stops for a moment, grinning as he says, "I like it when you're being forceful like this…"

"Ezra, I think you need to go for your own safety," Honey Lemon sighs, shaking her head. "This should wear off in a few hours and then he should hopefully be back to normal!"

Ezra was about to agree with her when he sees the panicked look on Hiro's face. "What? Ezra, no, please! Please don't leave me!" the teen cries, actually sounding slightly afraid.

Ezra carefully considers his next words, taking a deep breath before walking over to his friend and looking him deep in the eyes. "If I stay, will you promise to behave? You can't be trying to proposition me every two seconds-that's not something either of us are in the right mindset to be able to consent to right now, so I'm not going to stay here if you're going to keep trying to be all over me."

Hiro looks petulantantly up at him before finally asking, "If I say yes, can we at least cuddle?"

"Only the type of cuddling that we'd normally do," Ezra answers sternly.

"...Fine," Hiro sighs. "If that's what you want…"

"It is what I want," Ezra tells him firmly.

"All right." Hiro nods before glancing back at Honey Lemon. "Can you let me go now?"

"Ezra, are you sure about this?" Honey Lemon asks worriedly.

"I'm sure," Ezra answers. He knew Hiro-even if he was being affected by something outside of his control, he would never break a promise to him.

"All right…" Honey Lemon reluctantly releases Hiro, who eagerly darts back over to Ezra, nuzzling up against the other teen but keeping his promise and not doing anything more than that.

"So, what should we do with them until the flower wears off?" Fred asks, feeling relieved that things had slightly settled down but not feeling like he could safely take Tadashi home while he was like this any more than Ezra could take Hiro home in his current state.

"The best thing I can suggest is keep them in a calm, low stress environment away from other people, and probably have them drink lots of fluids to help flush the pollen out of their systems," Honey Lemon answers. "Maybe keep them in their office?"

"Sounds like a plan," Fred agrees-as much as he had no idea how to handle a situation like this, never having been involved in a debacle involving an essentially magic flower before, it sounded like good advice and he couldn't think of a better plan himself.

"But Freddy…" Tadashi pouts up at him. "I wanted to take you out somewhere special, just the two of us…"

Fred usually would have jumped at the chance to go on what sounded very much like a date with Tadashi, but he knew that this was definitely not the right time for that and so instead he says gently, "I was thinking maybe a nice movie night in together?"

"But that's not as romantic…" Tadashi tells him, looking like a kicked puppy.

"What's not romantic about being alone, just the two of us, all snuggled up together and watching one of our favorite movies?" Fred answers, trying to phrase this in the best way to make it sound like a real date so that Tadashi would hopefully go along with it.

"That does sound nice…" Tadashi slowly agrees, perking up slightly.

"See?" Fred tries not to sound too relieved. "So what do you say? Would you be okay with that?"

"If that's what you want to do, then of course I'm okay with it!" Tadashi answers, pecking his cheek.

"Okay then, let's go!" Fred gently squeezes his hand, and Tadashi eagerly starts leading him off down the hallway towards his office.

"Uh-so much for togetherness?" Ezra says, watching them go. He'd thought they were all going to use the office, but it sounded like Fred and Tadashi were going to be keeping the office to themselves. So where was he supposed to take Hiro? It seemed like he had no choice but to use his own office-hopefully he could count on Hiro to keep his promise about behaving.

"C'mon, Hiro," he sighs. "We'll go back to my place and we can do a movie night of our own, okay?"

"I like the sound of that," Hiro answers, grinning up at him and, to his credit, only lightly nuzzling up against him, as if wanting to show that he was going to be good and keep his end of the bargain.

"Ezra, are you going to be okay?" Honey Lemon asks, sounding concerned. "Do you need me to chaperone?"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Ezra tells her. "I think you've got enough on your plate with handling those flowers. Just promise me you'll get them sealed up tight so no one else can get into them, okay?"

"I will," Honey Lemon reassures him. "And if you do need me, I'm only a phone call away, okay?"

"Roger that," Ezra agrees before letting a very eager Hiro lead him back towards his own office.

"So, what do you want to watch?" Fred asks once he and Tadashi are back in Tadashi's office-he'd made a point of making sure to grab a couple water bottles from the vending machine on their way here, and he was going to make damn well sure that Tadashi drank every drop to help flush the pollen out of his system.

"I don't know," Tadashi answers, still looking at him like a lovesick puppy. "Whatever you want to watch!"

"Um… _Captain America_?" Fred suggests, feeling it was a fairly safe choice.

"If you want to, sure!" Tadashi beams at him, pecking his cheek before settling on the couch as Fred goes to start the movie up on the computer.

Fred was just starting to relax as he settles onto the couch, feeling that the worst of what could possibly happen had passed, when he finds himself being pulled into a full body cuddle by Tadashi. It was enough to send the entire blood content of Fred's body rushing straight to his cheeks, and he finds himself turning into a stammering mess as Tadashi grins down at him.

"You're so cute when you blush like that," Tadashi coos, nestling him close in his arms.

"T-Tadashi…" Fred mumbles, finding himself burying his face into his friend's chest in spite of himself. "Y-You can't just say stuff like that…"

"Why not?" Tadashi asks innocently.  
"B-Because… D-Damnit…" Fred curls his hands into the fabric of Tadashi's shirt, trying to stop the hot tears that he could feel building up behind his eyes in spite of himself.

"What is it, Freddy?" Tadashi asks, looking concerned. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I-It's not your fault… None of this is, really…" Fred half whispers. "It's just-the flower's going to wear off and all of this is going to go away. You'll probably just think this was all some crazy dream and laugh it off and go back to your normal life and I… I'll still be stuck the way I've always been stuck. Totally and completely in love with you and knowing that there's no way you could ever feel the same about me without the influence of some stupid flower…"

"Fred…" Fred feels Tadashi's arms tightening around him, but he can't bring himself to look at him as the tears start pouring down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Dashi, I shouldn't be unloading all of this on you… This isn't your fault…" Fred whispers.

"Fred, no!" Tadashi holds him protectively closer. "Don't apologize! Don't ever apologize for telling me how you feel!"

Fred nods silently into his chest, not feeling comforted-that sounded too much like a gentle letdown than Tadashi telling him that he actually felt the same way.

He stayed that way for he didn't know how long, both wanting to be anywhere but here and wanting to stay here safe in the arms of the man that he loved forever. And then finally he hears Tadashi softly saying, "D-Did you really mean it?"

"Mean what?" Fred's words were muffled by the material of Tadashi's shirt, but he knows that the other man had heard him when he hears him asking,

"Did you mean it when you said… That you loved me?"

Emotionally exhausted and thinking that Tadashi was still under the influence of the flower and probably wouldn't remember any of this when it passed out of his system, Fred answers honestly. "Fuck yeah I'm in love with you. I have been since the beginning of high school. Why wouldn't I be in love with the sweetest, kindest, smartest, most handsome guy to ever walk the face of the Earth? You're so freaking amazing and I'm… I'm just me…"

"Fred." Fred suddenly finds himself being pulled to an upright position, and he squeaks as he holds onto Tadashi's shirt to keep from falling off the couch. But Tadashi pulls away from him a moment later, reaching out and holding Fred's face so that he was looking directly into his eyes. It took a moment for the fanboy to realize just how deadly serious Tadashi's face was-that the odd glowing from earlier was gone, as if-was it possible, had the flower already managed to pass through his system? Or had the tone of their conversation finally snapped him out of things? And if so-shit. He had just bared his soul to the man he was in love with, holding absolutely nothing back. Fred finds himself trembling under Tadashi's intense gaze, waiting for him to tell him that he hated him, that he was disgusted with him, because who said those kinds of things to their best friend?

But then, before Fred could fully process what was happening, he saw Tadashi leaning in, felt a pair of lips pressing against his own and, without even thinking about it, found himself pressing back, tasting salt and a hint of sakura flavored chapstick. It took a full minute, when Tadashi finally pulls away, for his brain to process what had just happened.

"T-Tadashi, did you just kiss me?" he quietly gasps, heart pounding in his chest and staring into the other man's eyes.

"I guess I did," Tadashi answers with a shy, genuine smile that Fred knew was completely his own. "I-Is that okay?"

"I-Y-Yeah. Hell yeah, it's okay! I just-what did it mean? Does this mean that you… That you like me back?"

"I think so," Tadashi answers slowly, his hands finding Fred's and holding them.

"You think so?" Fred repeats, not sure what to make of that.

"I'll be honest, I really hadn't thought about this before-you know, dating? Not just you, dating anyone," Tadashi clarifies. "I knew I wanted to do it someday, but I never really found the right time to actually start looking for someone to date because I'm always so wrapped in my work. And I always thought dating meant trying to find some stranger and build an entirely new relationship with them based on dates and romantic moments and that sounded really, really scary to me... But maybe-maybe it doesn't have to be like that. Maybe it can be just going on dates with my best friend who already knows me better than anyone else in the world and someday getting to live in an apartment or house together. And if it includes kissing and maybe even more than that and eventually having a family together? I-I think I'd like that. No-I _know_ I'd like that. Like, a lot."

"R-Really?" Fred gasps softly, not able to believe what he was hearing. "You mean that?"

"I do," Tadashi answers, grinning and lightly pecking his cheek before pulling him close. "I really, really do."

Ezra was quite relieved when he finally gets Hiro back to his office-he didn't know how long it would take for Hiro to recover from the flower pollen, but he did want his best friend to be left with some dignity when he did, and he highly doubted that Hiro wanted any of his peers seeing him being all over a guy that he in all probability didn't actually like in that way.

"How long do we have to stay in here?" Hiro asks, petulantly crossing his arms over his chest as Ezra not only locks but barricades the door for safety.

"As long as it takes for you to get back to normal," Ezra answers firmly.

"Why are you so convinced that what's happening right now isn't my 'normal'?" Hiro argues back.

"First of all, because your eyes still have that weird purple glowy thing going on which is a clear sign that the pollen is still in your system," Ezra answers. "And second of all, because I know you, and there's no way in hell you'd actually be flirting with me."

"How do you know I haven't been flirting with you before and you were just being oblivious?" Hiro presses.

Ezra was momentarily stunned by that-was it possible that Hiro had been flirting with him before this had all happened? But no, this was just the flower talking. This wasn't the real Hiro, and he couldn't let himself get sucked in.

"Believe me, I think I would have noticed if my best friend was flirting with me," Ezra returns flatly.

"Maybe you're just really oblivious!"

"See? That right there! Hiro would never call me oblivious!"

"He- I mean, _I_ would if you were being extremely bull headed!" Hiro shakes his head, looking extremely frustrated. "Seriously-why are you fighting this? Do you hate the idea of dating me that much?"

"Are you kidding me? I would love to date you! But I know that this isn't you so there's no way I'm going to take advantage of my best friend!" Ezra cries, realizing a bit too late that he was being far too honest considering the situation that they were in right now.

"Hm… Interesting…" Hiro says with a slight smile.

"What are you thinking right now?" Ezra asks, feeling a bit nervous.

"How about I offer you a deal?"

"What kind of a deal?"

"Let's give this until morning. That should be plenty of time to get this out of my system according to Honey Lemon, right? If in the morning you're right, things go back to the way they were, no questions asked. But if it turns out that I'm right…"

"...Yes?"

"You agree to be my boyfriend."

"Wait, what?! Are you insane?"

"I don't see the problem." Hiro shrugs. "You win either way. Either we keep being friends, which is what you want, or we start dating, which is also what you want. There's literally isn't an outcome here that doesn't benefit you."

"...That is a very calculating way to talk about our relationship, you know that?"

"I'm waiting for an answer, Ez."

"...All right, fine!" Ezra sighs, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. "We'll do it your way!"

"Good!" Hiro grins at him before settling down on the couch. "Now let's get comfortable, because morning's still a ways off."

"Wait, you're expecting us to just stay in here until morning?"

"Well you keep saying that you can't let me go home, and I can only imagine that Tadashi's pretty occupied with Fred, so where else am I supposed to go?"

"...Touche."

"And you wouldn't leave me here locked in here by myself all night, would you?"

"...Darn it to heck, Hiro!"

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, it's a yes! Now stop being so manipulative!"

"Gladly!" Hiro grins at him before gesturing to the couch. "You planning on standing all night? It's not like I'm going to bite! This is still me, Ez!"

"...You promise you're not going to try any funny business that Hiro is going to regret in the morning?"

"For the last time, I _am_ Hiro, and yes, I am promising not to do anything that's going to make you uncomfortable!"

"Okay then." Ezra gingerly settles himself onto the couch, in spite of his best efforts not fully trusting this flower influenced Hiro. Still, once Hiro starts a movie playing on the computer screen and proceeds to obediently stay on his half of the couch, Ezra finds himself relaxing. It had been a long, extremely crazy day, even before dealing with this flower business, and maybe, just maybe it wouldn't hurt to close his eyes for just a minute…

The next thing Ezra knew, he was waking up with early morning sunlight streaming in through his office window. He squints his eyes, trying to remember why exactly he'd fallen asleep in his office. It takes a moment for his brain to slowly replay the events of the previous day, but once it finally does he bolts upright, realizing that he'd completely passed out and left Hiro unsupervised all night! The good news was that all his clothes were still on, which meant that the flower hadn't caused Hiro to do anything that Ezra knew would have crossed a lot of his moral boundaries. The bad news was that Hiro was nowhere in sight.

As Ezra slowly tries to figure out where Hiro had gone and if he should try to go find him, a horrible thought occurs to him. What if Hiro had left because the flower had finally worn off and he remembered everything that Ezra had said to him and he was totally freaked out about his best friend liking him romantically? Worse, what if he hated him? What if he never wanted to see him again? What if Hiro told all of their friends what he'd said and now they all hated him too? What if-

Before Ezra's brain could send him completely spiraling into full panic mode, he suddenly sees the door edging open and Hiro poking his head inside.

"Um, hey… Okay if I come in?" the raven haired teen asks, oddly enough looking a bit nervous.

"What? Oh, yeah, of course!" Ezra answers, trying to tell himself that Hiro didn't look nervous because he was scared of him after his confession last night or because he didn't want to be around him anymore.

"Thanks…" Hiro gives him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes (which at least weren't glowing anymore) as he enters the room and sits down next to him on the couch, purposefully keeping a good foot between them, something which sent a dagger right through Ezra's heart even though he tried not to show it.

"I'm sorry for conking out on you last night," Ezra finally says after about a minute of awkward silence. "I didn't mean to, I swear I just closed my eyes for a second and the next thing I knew…"

"It's fine!" Hiro hurries to reassure him. "I know that last night I… Well, I put you through a lot…"

"It's okay!" Ezra answers. "And I'm sorry too-I-I never should have said the things that I said…"

"Are you kidding me? You have absolutely nothing to apologize for!" Hiro cries. "You were a perfect gentleman the whole time! Do you know how many people would have bailed or taken advantage of me in that situation?"

"Why would I do something like that? You're my best friend, I would never do anything to hurt you!" Ezra cries.

"I know," Hiro answers, an actual smile making its way onto his face. "That's what makes you so amazing."

"T-Thanks…" Ezra finds himself ducking his head to hide his blush.

"You're welcome," he hears Hiro answer, followed rather unexpectedly by the soft crinkling of what sounded like cellophane and then something small and hard being pushed into his hand. "Um, h-here. I got this for you."

Ezra looks down and can't help but feel a bit confused when he looks down and sees a granola bar in his hand. "I- Thanks, I think?" he says uncertainly, not sure why exactly Hiro was giving him this.

"I'm sorry, I know it's not a real breakfast, but it's the best thing I could get without leaving the lab," Hiro tells him with a sheepish, almost nervous smile. "I mean, I didn't know when you were going to wake up so I didn't want to go too far."

"That was really nice of you." Ezra feels a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth in spite of himself.

"Well, I mean, I wasn't about to let my boyfriend go hungry, was I?" Hiro answers with a hint of a smirk.

Ezra's mouth drops open in shock. "Y-Your what?"

"You didn't forget about our agreement, did you?" Hiro says, his tone gently teasing but also reserved, as if afraid of how the other teen was going to respond.

"I-I didn't, I just- I didn't think that you actually-" Ezra stammers out, his cheeks burning bright pink. Wait, was Hiro actually saying that he wanted to…?

"I told you I wasn't completely out of my mind yesterday, didn't I?" Hiro answers with a hint of a smile before adding, "I mean, unless I completely imagined everything that you said to me, in which case I just made things ridiculously awkward…"

"N-No!" Ezra cries, catching Hiro's hands in his own. "I just- W-Wow… Y-You actually want me to be your boyfriend?"

"How many times do I have to say it for you to believe it?" Hiro asks, a grin completely overtaking his face.

"I think this is plenty," Ezra answers, unable to keep from grinning back. He couldn't believe it-Hiro actually wanted to be his boyfriend! This was easily the most amazing day of his entire life.

"Good." Hiro squeezes his hands before adding mischievously, "Now, is my boyfriend going to give me my first real kiss or not?"

"Gladly," Ezra tells him, gently taking him by the back of his neck and leaning in to kiss him. Hiro meets him halfway and their lips meet, immediately sending a million happy sparks racing through Ezra's entire body as he pulls Hiro close. He'd imagined this so many times-what his first kiss might be like with Hiro if they ever actually started dating. He certainly never would have been able to imagine that the events leading up to it would be anything like this. But, as he holds Hiro in his arms, savoring the taste their first kiss, he found that this version was a million times better than anything he could have imagined.


End file.
